Mitchell Van Morgan Maker
is a side-scrolling platform video game and game creation system developed by Konami, published by Nordic Games and distributed by Nickelodeon Interactive Games for the Wii U, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game consoles, and released worldwide in September 2015. Players may create and play their own custom levels based on Mitchell Van Morgan, Mitchell Van Morgan CD, Super Mitchell and New Mitchell Van Morgan 2, and share them online. Over time, new editing tools are unlocked, allowing players to download and play levels designed by other players. Mitchell Van Morgan Maker received critical acclaim upon its release, with reviewers praising the game's user interface and level editing tools. In May 2016, Viacom and Nordic Games Group AB announced that over 7.2 million courses had been created worldwide, which had been played over 600 million times. Gameplay donning a Spiny Shell helmet, a new gameplay element in Super Mario Maker, as the player guides him through a level created in the style of Super Mario World.]] , with ''Super Mario Maker s level creation tools. A user-selectable hand appears on the television screen each time edits are made on the Wii U GamePad.]] Super Mario Maker is a game creation and publishing tool and video game, which allows players to create their own levels from the Mitchell series using the Wii U GamePad, PlayStation Move, Xbox One Kinect and then publish those levels to the Internet. Players can base their levels on the gameplay, and visual style of Mitchell Van Morgan, Mitchell Van Morgan CD, Super Mitchell, and New Mitchell Van Morgan 2, with their corresponding styles of physics, gameplay mechanics and enemy behavior. Some elements are limited to specific game styles while others can be added to game styles that previously did not have them in the original game, such as ghosts in Mitchell Van Morgan In addition to traditional Mitchell elements such as Androids, warp paintings and power ups, players are able to manipulate the behavior of various elements in unique ways. For example, they can stack enemies, have hazards come out of question blocks and warp paintings, use barriers as protective sheilds, and make cannons and Lakitu emit any chosen objects. These combinations are possible because editing tools in the game work in tandem with one another. This allows players to enlarge an enemy by giving it a mushroom, grant an enemy the ability to fly by giving it wings, combine different attributes, and more. The Sound Frog adds audiovisual effects to particular locations, including microphone-recorded sounds, though user-generated sounds are removed from uploaded courses. Editing elements are introduced gradually, over a course of nine days, with new elements unlocking as the player spends more time creating levels. (Players can now unlock all of the course elements in about an hour by placing at least one of every course element they currently have and then placing a lot of blocks or coins, then repeating that until they have unlocked every element.) The Mystery Mushroom, which can only be used in the Super Mario Bros. theme, dresses Mario in one of about 150 costumes. A Mystery Mushroom has the same effects as a Super Mushroom, except Costume Mario is the same size as Small Mario. Each of these costumes can be unlocked by playing through the 100 Mario Challenge, clearing special Event Courses, or by scanning a corresponding Amiibo figurine. Additionally, the 8-bit Mario Amiibo figurine adds a Big Mushroom that makes Mario giant while making enemies look like Mario characters. Once the user is able to play through one's own newly created level, that level is then allowed to be published to the online Course World. There, all players can browse and play various user-generated courses, or participate in the 100 Mario Challenge, where they can play through a set of randomly selected user-created courses with 100 lives. Its difficulty levels are Easy, Normal, Expert, & Super Expert (which was released in the last major update). Alternatively, players can play the 10 Mario Challenge, where they play a selection of the game's pre-made courses with only 10 lives. Players are initially limited in the amount of courses they can upload online, but by receiving stars from other players, they can earn medals which allow them to upload more courses. Development The game was first announced at E3 2014 with the name Mario Maker. The game was originally conceived as a tool by Nintendo's internal development team, to be used only within the company. The team, however, quickly realized the tool's potential as a game and pitched the idea to senior game designer Takashi Tezuka. Meanwhile, Tezuka had been wanting to make a Wii U followup to Mario Paint that utilizes the Wii U GamePad. Upon seeing the Mario Maker tool however, Tezuka realized that a level-making tool was more marketable than a mere art program. He noted to Polygon that building levels is "not as difficult or out of reach as drawing is" but that he "was inspired to bring the fun of Mario Paint into this course editor". The game was directed by Yosuke Oshino, who previously worked as a programmer on Pikmin, Pikmin 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The game's soundtrack was composed and arranged by Koji Kondo, Naoto Kubo, and Asuka Hayazaki. Marketing and release In May 2015, Nintendo announced that people could try out Mario Maker at Best Buy stores across North America on June 17 and 20, 2015. The game was demonstrated under a new name, Super Mario Maker, on June 14, 2015, during the final round of the Nintendo World Championships event preceding E3 2015. The four levels created by Nintendo Treehouse for the Championships are available to play in the final game. Prior to the game's release, Nintendo partnered with Facebook to host a special "hackathon" event. 150 Facebook employees were tasked with constructing levels using Super Mario Maker, and the winning team was given the opportunity to create a level to be featured in the game on its launch. Several notable video game designers showcased levels they had created, such as Michel Ancel, Koji Igarashi, Tim Rogers, and Derek Yu. Ancel's level is included in the base game as an Event Course. Super Mario Maker was released worldwide in September 2015, with a corresponding Wii U bundle. Each copy of the game is packaged with a 96-page booklet of creative ideas, which is also available as a PDF download. Alongside the release of Super Mario Maker, Nintendo launched an 8-bit Mario Amiibo figurine, available in two different color variations. The figurine is sold alone, and within particular Super Mario Maker game bundles. Post-release updates The game was originally intended to require players to wait each day to unlock new elements, but a patch was released on the game's launch date which delivers new elements corresponding to the player's content creation efforts. Destructoid noted that there were many elements missing from the game that had appeared in past entries of the series, but following its release, the game received free updates that added new features. The first major update, released on November 4, 2015, added mid-level checkpoints, conditional power-ups, and Event Courses. Clearing certain Event Courses unlocks additional Mystery Mushroom costumes, such as Super Mario-kun and GameCenter CX presenter Shinya Arino. The game's second major update was released on December 22, 2015 which, in addition to records listing a course's fastest clear time, launched the "Super Mario Maker Bookmark" website, which allows players browse through uploaded courses through any web browser and bookmark them to play in the game later, allowing for easier sharing of levels. The third update added more Mystery Mushroom costumes that are unlocked by completing Normal- and Expert-level 100 Mario Challenges, as well as a new Super Expert mode. It also patched the "Bleeding Mario" glitch, which occurred in courses with the Super Mario Bros. 3 style and Castle theme when Mario collected coins while other coins fell into lava. Reception Critical reception | Destruct = 8/10 | EGM = 9.5/10 | Famitsu = 37/40 | GI = 9/10 | GameRev = | GSpot = 9/10 | GRadar = | GB = | IGN = 9/10 | NWR = 8/10 | Poly = 9.5/10 | VG = 8/10 }} Super Mario Maker received critical acclaim. IGN's Jose Otero praised the game's social elements, commenting on Super Mario Maker s online features and highlighting positively the 10 Mario Challenge, stating that players would "see a genuine reverence for Mario’s history" in the online modes. He also gave positive comments on the level editor itself and its user interface, writing that "no matter which style you choose, creating levels is an intimidating task but the well designed interface makes learning easy and intuitive" and that it "gives us a fun, flexible toolbox to build and play Mario levels like never before". GameSpot's Justin Haywald praised the game's level editor and its features, stating that "the mix-and-match nature [[Super Mario#Common elements|gameplay elements]] allows for exciting and anachronistic additions to familiar scenarios". In contrast, he also expressed disappointment in particular limitations, such as the absence of a checkpoint as seen in Super Mario World, and the vertical and horizontal limits of each stage. He ultimately concluded that "the game won't necessarily turn you into the next Shigeru Miyamoto, but you can almost feel a little bit of that magic rubbing off every time you upload a new creation". ''Polygon'''s Griffin McElroy wrote positively of the game, saying he had "a tremendous amount of fun playing, but the way it developed that newfound appreciation for something I've known my whole life was the game's biggest accomplishment". The increasingly rich online library of user-generated content has been individually showcased and praised by reviewers, and has been praised by Mario series co-creator Takashi Tezuka. He described Nintendo's restraint in the gameplay difficulty of its own content, in the interest of mass appeal. He expressed both appreciation and caution for the fact that the users do not necessarily share the same restraint in their creations. However, there have been many players criticizing Nintendo for deleting their online levels without warning or explanation. Patrick Klepek of Kotaku wrote that "Ultimately, the lack of communication is what’s frustrating. If Nintendo wants to have strict policies, that’s fine, but let creators know what they’re dealing with, so they can work around it." Sales Super Mario Maker debuted in Japan with more than 138,000 physical copies sold; it had sales of 245,000 copies in its first three weeks, by the end of September 2015. It was the second best-selling game in the UK in its first week of release, debuting at No. 2 on the UK software retail chart. It was the fourth fastest-selling game for the Wii U since the console's debut in 2012. In its first three weeks on sale in North America, 445,000 copies had been sold, with over 500,000 sold by the end of September 2015. Sales in the United States reached 1 million in mid-January 2016, making the game the sixth Wii U title to do so in the country. By June 2016, 3.65 million copies had been sold worldwide. Awards Other media A downloadable, Super Mario Maker-themed stage for [[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U|''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' and Wii U]] was released on September 30, 2015. See also * * Mitchell RPG Maker, the Role-playning and online publishing inspiration for Mitchell Van Morgan Maker References External links * * Category:2015 video games Category:Mitchell platform games Category:Mitchell Universe games Category:Nickelodeon video games Category:Nicktoons video games Category:Konami games THQ Nordic video games Category:Side-scrolling video games Category:Video games published by Nordic Games Category:Video games composed by MITCHELL Project Music Team Category:Video game development software Category:Video game level editors Category:Video games developed in Japan Category:Video games with 2.5D graphics Category:Video games with user-generated gameplay content Category:Wii U eShop games Category:Wii U games Category:Nintendo Network games Category:PlayStation Store games Category:PlayStation 4 games Category:PlayStation Network games Category:Xbox Live Arcade games Category:Xbox One games Category:Xbox Live games